


The Unsolved Orginization: Hotel California

by cryingdrama3



Category: Buzzfeed Unsolved (Web Series)
Genre: Attempted Murder, Buzzfeed Unsolved Supernatural, Buzzfeed Unsolved True Crime, Character Death, F/F, F/M, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Implied/Referenced Suicide, M/M, Minor Character Death, Murder, Music, Suicide, Teenagers, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-22
Updated: 2018-05-14
Packaged: 2019-04-06 14:29:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 10,420
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14058981
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cryingdrama3/pseuds/cryingdrama3
Summary: A lawyer is shot in a small town outside of the city of an angles-- The Unsolved Organization is on the case.Ryan Bergara is in the supernatural department, he has no experience in the field yet is very passionate about this work. (The Believer)Shane Madej is in the crime department, he has many experiences in the field and enjoys his work. (The Skeptic)What happens when they crash together?





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! I'll be posting as much as I can as I have other stories and school. My bad if I use horrible English, it's not my first language.   
> When you see this sign: ~ , it means that it goes with a song. If you see this: * , it's an actual quote from people I know.
> 
> Bye and I hope that you enjoy the story.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A lawyer is shot dead in a small town outside of the city of angles-- The Unsolved Organization is on the case.
> 
> Ryan Bergara works in the supernatural department, he has no experience on a case but still enjoys his work with passion and stars in his eyes. (The Believer)
> 
> Shane Madej is in the crime department, he has many experience in the field and enjoys his work with a steady head. (The Skeptic)
> 
> What happens when they crash together?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! I'll be posting as much as you can as I have other stories and school. My bad if I use horrible English, it's not my first language. Also, when you see this sign in the title: ~ , it means that the chapter goes with a song. If you see this: * < it's a quote from people I know.
> 
> This story is based off the artwork of the artist @orkkie on Tumblr. Go check them out because I love their art very much. 
> 
> Bye! And I hope that you enjoy the story! Don't forget to leave comments as feedback and kudos and to share with your friends :)

When Ryan was little, he asked his mother this question: “Do people actually fall in love?” Any mother would have laughed and said yes, but Ryan’s mother didn’t. She was a realistic person with a tongue she couldn’t use to lie. So she said with honesty and a heavy heart, the divorce making her like this. Heavier and constantly on edge.

His mother responded hesitantly: “Yes.”

With stars in his eyes, Ryan asked another question: “Oh, how does it feel like?” At this point, his mother was ready to cry but she still answered anyways.

“Ryan, sweetheart, people sometimes don’t fall in love, they say do but they don’t fall in love for the person.” She let out a shaky breath, “And all that stuff you believe on TV about happily ever afters aren’t always true. Some people love other people in a bad way.”

Confused on what she meant, he asked his last question for the night. “Oh, so how is love supposed to feel?”

His mother smiled tightly at this. “Love can be something that you can’t describe, it’s something strange. It can hide between words, looks, and other things in between. Some people fall in love with people they hate, of course that doesn’t mean everyone’s like that but it happens.”

Ryan remembered that it was raining that day, so when the conversation ended, the rain had stopped. He asked, “So love can be kinda seen but not, but it’s there? Like ghost?”

She laughed at her child’s simile, “Yes, my dear. Like ghosts.” His mother petted his hair and blinked her teary eyes to shed some half tears.

Ryan at that age didn’t notice the tears but now, he looks back and sighs at his childish ignorance. And since that day, he still takes that memory with him like a rosary. Over the years, the meaning changes but he can agree with himself that it wasn’t exactly a happy memory but it was a memory he couldn’t live without.


	2. .5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Who is the Unsolved Organization?

At 9 p.m, a man was shot dead. Alexander Harmon was a lawyer whose client was someone of power. Both the killer and the reason is unknown.

This is where the Unsolved Organization comes in.

An organization whose job is to cover things up from the public and might make them panic.

There are two divisions:

Crime-- they cover up potential serial killers and strip them from their fame. (This division was in charge of covering up some of the Charles Manson Family murders that they might have committed)

Supernatural-- ghosts, demons, aliens, witches, men in black; you name it and they’ve seen it and dealt with.

And saying that the two departments don’t get along is an understatement. So keeping the embodiment of each department away from each other is a logical case-- right?


	3. Smile

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Skeptic and Believer meet.

"You heard?" Sara had ran up to him when he was making his coffee. She looked up at him, energy seemed to be buzzing around as her eyes were shining behind her round glasses.

He poured a packet of sugar of in the coffee. "What? That the most famous lawyer in LA dropped dead. Hell yeah I did. It woke me up in the middle of the night," he mixed it with the straw, "not like I was asleep anyways but you know what I mean." 

His short and colorful friend rolled her eyes, "Weirdo. But I did hear that they are sending someone from our department to work on the case." Shane have heard this when he checked in this morning, the office was going insane-- more than usual. Many were excited while others looked worried about the publicity status of the case. The Newspaper team (those who make sure that the newspapers and the news don't make the public panic) were the ones that were panicking. He saw Zach wave at him while he was talking on the phone with Fox News, telling them to send them the files for the story so he could edit it. The Agents were excited, ready to pounce on the case if given the chance.

Shane poured cream, "Probably. It's usually the top Agents who get these large cases." He stirred it and took a sip and made a face when it was too cold but ignored it. He needed coffee, he had a feeling that it was going to be a long day. That and he felt strange. When he got to work, a flash of memories hit him harder than usual. It was a sense of deja vu and nostalgia. He ignored it but when Sara ran up to him, he feeling seemed to have been clinging on her and attacked him. He feels in in his heart and in his bones: something was off but he couldn't put a finger on it.

Sara beamed, "That's not what I heard. And if I trust my gut... it's probably going to be you." The smile was of confidence and of trust. Such a Sara thing to do. What she said caught his attention far too well. Shane hasn't been on a case since the Manson Family copycat. "You think so?" he asked, trying to keep his voice from sounding too hopeful, a way to convince himself that it's probably not going to happen.

The colorful friend nodded, "But hey, I also heard that someone from the Supernatural department might help. It's just a rumor though." 

Shane scoffed, "Why would they send a Ghostbuster to this case? Alexander Harmon probably was the victim of a hitman, lawyers are easy targets." He gulped down his coffee and threw the paper cup away, "What are they going to do? Throw salt at the g-g-g-ghost?" Shane mocked them far too much but it still made everyone laugh. He seems to be holding a grudge against the opposite of where he stands. "or maybe have a water gun filled with holy water and bullshit like that."

At this point Sara was laughing so hard that her purple curls were bouncing. "Dude, I'm just telling you what I heard." She might be scowling him in a way but she was still smiling. He rolled his eyes and wiped his hand on his jeans, "I don't care. I'm just telling you what I think. The government is wasting its time and money on that side of the organization." He then looked around and spotted a surveillance camera and smirked before yelling: "You heard that, Government? You're wasting your time because, mark my words: ghost, aliens, demons-- any supernatural shit like that is bullshit." 

___ 

Ryan felt a paper ball hit him on the side of the head but he was far too engrossed by the computer screen to fight back. Then another. And another. It took the third one to make his friends stop and slide up to him, still sitting in their swivel chair. "Okay, he isn't dead," Kelsey says. Steven rolls his eyes and taps his friend's shoulder. "Dude, you okay?" 

He blinked twice, his eyes suddenly feeling sore from staring at the screen for too long. "Um, yeah. My head just hurts." This was one of the most obvious lies he had said to anyone. He looks and feeling like a large mess. 

The friends flash each other a look and look back at Ryan. "You sure?" Steven asks. "Are you sure that this has nothing to do with the Alexander Harmon case?" Ryan's hands freeze over his bulky keyboard. 

"No," he lied terribly. Kelsey then drops her arm over his shoulder. "My dude, you can't lie to us." Her tone was something that made him feel nostalgic. It reminded him of his mother's soothing voice, the caring tone of her shushing him when he cried and the happy tone in her voice when he played in the grass under the bright sun. It made all of his walls crumple in a heartbeat.

"Yes," he admitted in almost shame. "It does. I woke up in the middle of the night about the case. It was around 2 a.m and I've been trying to solve it since..." he looked down at his watch, "six hours, non-stop." He heard Steven call him a 'dumbass' under his breath, which made Kelsey elbow him in the ribs. 

"Look, if the Organization wanted you to obsess over this case they would have called you in and handed it to you. So stop what you are doing and fix someone -- hopefully yourself -- a coffee and enjoy your life as an agent that hasn't been traumatized by our field of work and still have a soul. Okay?" Usually, Ryan is stubborn and would have said no to her but she was right. He was always like this. Ever since childhood, he had tried to solved all of the mysteries of life. And it was always leaded him of him being obsessed that he would drop almost-dead. And this was one of those occasions. Well, almost. Kelsey is a reckless woman. She's those adults that still act as if they were still in high school. Ryan once saw her down a bottle and a half of vodka before hitting the ground and then that lead him to drive her home. But right now, she was his voice of reason. The voice of reason he wanted and needed. 

"I know but... this is different. I haven't been like this before," he said. "This is driving me up the wall. I know something is up, I feel it in my bones. It's almost as if it was calling my name..."

Steven pats his shoulder, "I support you and your nonsense and crazy bullshit but unless the Organization calls you in: let it go."

He sighed and rubbed his face before muttering a small 'okay'. "Good," Kelsey says. "Now, let's plan tonight. I really want to see The Dead Poet Society but there's also--" Ryan tuned her and Steven talking out. He wasn't being rude, he just needed to think. All through the morning, there was something that felt wrong. When he woke up, it was as if his body was in autopilot. It took him awhile to realize what he was doing. It was such a strange thing that he hates it.

"Ryan Bergara! Please report to me!" He almost fell out if his chair when the voice boomed through the floor. "Ryan Bergara!" He looked around to expect everyone’s eyes on him. It was one of those moment when you’ve being called up to the front office when you were a child. But this was work, so this was worst.

He stood up and flashed a look at Kelsey and at Steven with his heart in his throat and allif his nerves going on edge. He felt like a big ball of anxiety with legs. Ryan walked up to the intern, who stood next to the landline that was hooked up against the wall and that made his voice boom through the office and made Ryan almost jump out of his skin. While he walked, these steps seemed familiar, a distant memory that he had lived already. Of course someone would feel familiar with their workplace but the way he walked up to him, the feeling in his stomach and the fact that intern stood there was a memory that seemed to already had lived. 

Ryan knew the intern, he was tall with glasses and a crazy lump of curly hair with a black beard grown across his face. He only knew him by his nickname, Curly, and his last name. Vasquez or something like that. Curly was taller than him but he wasn’t scary, it maybe had to do with the earrings and the colorful tattoos on his wrists and hands that were almost hidden by his many stacked bracelet and rings. “You Ryan Bergara?” he asked, his eyes peeking over his glasses as he looked down at the clipboard her had in his arms. 

He nodded, “Yes, I am.” The intern hanged up the phone that he used to yell out his name and made a humming noise that came from the back of his neck. Without notice, Curly turned around and walked away. It took Ryan a moment to realize that he had to follow him. He turned his head to look back at Kelsey and at Steven, she was smiling and waving her arms around like a teenager at a concert while Steven had his thumbs up and was smiling at him. Ryan smiled back awkwardly, scared.

 

It had never occured to Ryan that the building was this big, the Supernatural Department and the Crime Department share the same grounds but were in different buildings each. It was organized almost the same way that people organized a hospital. Two buildings yet same idea in between them. The building was placed almost in the middle of LA, it was surrounded by other buildings; banks, stores, law firms, schools. And no one seems to question the strange, tall building when it hides in plain sight and is known by the name BUZZFEED. 

Within minutes, he ha been following Curly around the building. After a couple of halls and Ryan tripping on the carpet he was stepping on, the intern had stopped in front of a large door with a plaque with the name Q. Brunson in the center of the door. The moment he saw the name, he felt his heart fall to his shoes. He felt as if he had been caught cheating on a test, his heart beating so fast that his stomach did a flip and his legs were filled with blood. Fight or flight, he told himself. Curly knocked on the door and opened it. 

The office was big and had space to spare, and right in the center was a large desk with two seats in front of it. A woman stood behind the desk with a man stood right in front of it, as if he had just walked in. The woman was someone Ryan could identify. She was Quinta Brunson, a small woman with a lot of courage and hard work still staining her hands. He heard that she started at the bottom as an intern with little no money in her pocket but slowly, she climbed to the top and became the mother of the Supernatural Department. She was a woman that Ryan looked up to, despite their height difference. 

But the man was someone he couldn’t exactly recall. He was a tall skinny man with long limbs and a face that caught Ryan off guard. I know you, he told himself, but from where? He wasn’t the most handsome man that he had seen before but he had that face that made Ryan nervous because he was so convinced that he had seen him before. 

“Ma’am, he’s here,” the intern said. He looked at Ryan and flashed him a smile that he knew was supposed to be nice and friendly but came out as pitiful. Curly left and closed the door behind him, leaving him in a room with an almost stranger and with and actual stranger. Ryan blinked and he felt as if he had been here before. He could identify all of the knicknacks on the desk, despite him not recalling how he knew it. His hands began to twitch and sweat, he wiped them on his trousers. 

He looked around in nervousness, “Ma’am, you called for me?” He was making sure. Half of him was jumping up and down in excitement because it’s his first case! But the other half of him was sure that maybe it was a mistake and that they messed up and that a most professional person will take his place. Yet, who says that they’re going to give him a case? Maybe they’re going to fire him or… 

Quinta nodded, “Yes, I did.” She gestured to the two seat in front of her desk. The man sat down in one while the other was meant for Ryan. He hurried over and sat down, his heart beating against his chest. 

She cleared her throat and said, “I reckoned that you two don't know each other.” They both shook their heads. “Well,” she continued, “take a good look at each other because we will be working with each other.” 

“I'm sorry, what?” the man asked. His voice was something that spooked Ryan just a little bit. It sounded familiar. He turned his face to look at the man and his heart skipped beating. He look so familiar. Too familiar that he felt a name forming on the tip of his tongue. The man was a nostalgic memory, almost. 

The man's face was strange. Small eyes, a hooked down nose, a peach fuzz-like beard on his face and blonde hair that was pushed up neatly with gel.

Ryan automatically felt small, smaller than usually. The man looked like an actual agent: sophisticated, calm, cool, collected, and with experience. But he didn't look like he belonged to the Supernatural Department. No. He looked like the Crime Department in human form.

While Ryan looked like the stereotypical conspiracy theorist. Messy hair, bags under his eyes, nervous frame, a slightly wrinkled shirt that he had pulled on. All he needed was a tinfoil hat and he would be what the Crime Department thinks of the Supernatural. Honestly, Ryan now regrets staying up late last night. 

“Now, I also reckoned that you also have been watching the news,” Quinta had ignored the man's question and Ryan had silent and nodded. “Well, me and the head of the Crime Department have agreed to share this case. As a peace offering of some sorts. Both of you will solve this case.” She handed both of them two files each.

Quinta stood up and looked at Ryan with a smile, he didn't smile back. “Now, introduce yourselves to each other.”

The man was the first one to stand up and he waited for Ryan to do the same. He quickly stood up and extended his hand and looked at the man in the eyes. They were the brown of a vintage desk, they were also so filled with education and wisdom that he seen and dragged around with him. 

Three blinks, then a pause, and then two blinks.

3.2. Fake name.

“C.C Tinsley,” the man lies with his eyes shining as he stepped into the character he is. 

Ryan shook C.C’s hand, “Richard Goldsworth.” Despite the fact that they're from different departments, the Academy's rules still are the same. They teach codes that only others from the Academy know. You choose your fake name, identity and then you choose the department you want to be in. 

Ryan had chosen the name as a joke with a friend back in the Academy, he and the friend were very close, but now he won't stand the name if its even uttered. A feeling of bittersweetness comes with that name. 

C.C squeezed his hand a little bit harder than to be a friendly rivalry touch, and Quinta noticed. “Tinsley, enough. Both of you, smile at each other.”

He scoffed but it was an order. C.C did it first, it was a very, very fake smile that was almost plastic-like. Ryan did the same but it wasn't a smile, it was more like a sneer and him baring his teeth at him. He let go of the tall man’s hand and his wrist was now sore. 

“Good to meet you, Ricky,” Tinsley mocked him and his tone caught him off guard. It startled him because his head had a flashback that it was too fast that he could only see colors and blobs in his mind. The memory (?) was fast, like he was on a train and everything he passed was gone in a second.

“The pleasure is all mine, Tinsley,” he glared at him. The memories weren’t going to stop him from not treating him like the jerk and terrible person Ryan knew he was. They both flashed each other a fake smile and even mentally cursed each other out. Ryan had a couple of hard-spoken words that would make his mother furious and then faint. 

Quinta brought him back to reality, “Goldsworth, Tinsley, you two are going undercover in a small town right outside of LA. Murmursville. You probably never heard of it as only a few people actually live there. It’s not exactly a tourist trap but it makes enough money to be a decent town.” She continues, “I have supplied both of you with fake FBI badges, don’t flash them around just because as you know the… relationship between TUO and the FBI is like. But anyways, you two will stay in the Hotel Memories.” She look at the two at them and the tension in the air, a Supernatural member and a Crime member never have lasted this long before without one of them being dead on the floor. “Am I understood?” her voice was close to anger but still full of strictness. 

“Sir, yes, sir,” Tinsley jokes.  
“Yes, ma’am,” Ryan mumbles.

The head of the Organization nodded, “Go on then. Pack your bags and say your goodbyes. You leave at noon.” C.C left right away while Ryan stayed back, confused but excited yet also very dazed as all of the emotions of the last couple of hours were coming back as anxiety. But the type you feel when you’re standing in line for a rollercoaster. 

“Ma’am,” Ryan said, his voice was begging to ask a question.  
“Yes, Goldsworth?” she said his fake name, something that the Academy uses to make you fall into character. To trick you to step into the shoes of another person. A person that you were supposed to make up to save your life or to not put the Organization in danger for exposure, but not Ryan wants nothing to do with that character. After there was an accident involving… Richard Goldsworth, it has been very hard for Ryan to be that character. It was supposed to be a joke, he remembered crying that after the accident as he waited in the infirmary next to his close friend. 

“Why me?” he asked with honesty dripping and oozing from his lips and the words itself. Ryan could hear it dripping on to the carpet below him. 

She responded in a tone that was almost like a teacher talking to their student about life: “Because life happens like that. You have no experience, so I’m pushing you to have experience that you will live with and die with.”

He nodded to end the conversation, still not understanding what she meant, and was ready to leave when Quinta stopped him. “Oh, and Goldsworth?”

“Yes, ma’am?”

She smiled at him, “Don’t forget to smile.”


	4. Nostalgic Deja Vu: Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The beginning of something.

When Shane told Sara the whole story, she was basically bouncing up and down in excitement. She was helping get all of his stuff. He got some files and nooks he would need and other extra stuff he might need. He felt like he was overpacking, as if he was a child going to his first vacation.It has been too long since he had a chance for a case. “But I got a partner,” he explained with disappointment. 

“Why is that an issue?” she asked. “You’ve gotten paired up before-- and you two are still cool with each other.” She was right, when Shane was in charge of the Manson Family Copycat case he was with a guy named Andrew Ilnyckyj. He was quiet and serious and the only few times Shane had heard him say a couple of words, he was very monotone. Yet, they aren’t friends exactly, they were coworkers that still kinda talk over a drink in the bar that was down the street. 

“He’s from the Supernatural Department,” he confesses in between a sigh. 

Sara’s face twisted in one of surprise, her mouth turning into an ‘o’ shape. “Oh shit..” And that was the right reaction as he hummed in response. “How does he look like?”

“Short.”

She didn't look amused by the description. Either by the vagueness of it or by the comment. “Wow. Well if you haven’t noticed, you’re a skyscraper so--” 

He shook his head and laughed at what she was saying. “Okay, I get it. But anyways, he’s short, I think he’s only a bit taller than you. He has black hair and he looks like a mess.”

“Rude,” Sara scoffed.

“I’m serious, he looked like he just rolled out of bed and just walked out of his house,” he recalled the memory of the man. His height wasn’t the surprising part of him meeting him. It was how he looked. He looked paramedic and like someone who you could easily scare by just jumping in front of him or saying the wrong thing in front of him and he would back away into a corner in fear. His shirt was slightly wrinkled and messily tucked in and he wasn’t wearing a tie. It was probably a classic black tie that he stuffed into his gray trousers, that were slightly dirty around the cuffs. His face was young looking but his eyes seemed tired and were always shifting to one place to another, never in the same spot for too long.

“Did he dress weird or something?” she asked, her voice making the image of Goldsworth vanishing like an illusion. 

He shook his head, shaking the thought of the short man and responding, “He dressed like nerd.”

She poked him in the ribs, “And you dress like a lawyer but hey, I’m being critical. You also have that weird floral shirt. That makes you look like a hawaiian tourist that got lost.”

He remember when he went to buy that shirt. It was hanged behind a mannequin, as if it was hiding. Shane saw it in the corner of his eye, it was a navy blue material in between black shirts. He would have missed the shirt if it wasn’t for the pink flowers on the shirt. It stood out to him. Shane took it out of the shirts and then looked at it. He bought it on the spot.

Shane smiled, “Funny that you mention weird clothing, considering that your hair is the color of Barney and that cardigan of yours looks like an LSD trip.” The hair part was true, she had recently dyed her hair a purple that was now washing out, it was turning pastel against the actual color of her hair. And the cardigan was an exaggeration. It was multiple colors on the khaki piece of clothing. 

“It’s called fashion, look it up,” she said in almost monotone but still in sarcasm. Yet there was something hiding in her words, a tone that he would never expect from her. 

“Are you mad at me or something?” he asked, it was a serious question despite the fact that he was still smiling. But when she huffed, the smile fell from his face.

She put her hands on her hips, ready to scold him at him like a tired babysitter. “All I’m saying is to give the guy a chance. To be optimistic to the guy. He’s probably scared out of his mind because of the situation.”

She, sadly, made sense. But that doesn’t mean he’s gonna admit that. “How am I supposed to be an optimist about this?” he said. “He looked like a conspiracy theorist. He’s basically a conspiracy theorist! All he needs is a tinfoil hat. That whole department is a bunch of conspiracy theorist that rant about witches and aliens and ghost. I will always take what someone from that department with a grain with salt, especially a newbie like him.”

“Has anyone told you that you’re a douchebag?” she asks sarcastically.

“Yes,” he says.

Sara pats his shoulder as she open the trunk of the car and and he puts his stuff in the car. He puts on his coat and sets his glasses on his face. “At least smile about it,” she says as she was ready to leave him. 

Shane bares his teeth at her.

*** 

“Congratulations, nerd!” Kelsey cheered as she nugged his shoulder in a friendly gesture of confidence. Steven followed behind them, holding a box filled with books and files that Ryan might need. They actually had to go home, he didn’t want to ask one of the secretaries for the files. He luckily had a copy of each file from each case in the last twenty years. Not having a case for your own sure does have his perks.

Kelsey wipes from under her eyes, “They grow up so fast,” he fakes cries like a mother saying goodbye to their child who is going off to college. Ryan could only chuckle at the thought of it, then picked up his keys from the top of the trunk of the car and opened the door for Steven. 

They went back inside the building as he had to go back home to get a suitcase with clothes. He was holding two suitcases that he has stuffed with things such as clothes and toiletries. He had to scramble to get everything he could. Ryan’s head went to Tinsley, that man probably had a suitcase ready under his desk, ready to go. “I’m so excited,” he said with his face absolutely beaming with joy. “But also scared at the same time. I feel like throwing up because-- Oh my God, my first case!” They put everything on his desk. He also wanted to say “sayonara” to his desk but then he realized that he had to come back to it when this was over. But no. This was his first case and he needed to enjoy it as much as he can. There is no use of worrying about being sad and boring later when you can be like that anytime but this. 

“But where are you going again?” Kelsey asked. “I want to check it out in the phonebook.” She picked up the yellow-paged book from Ryan’s desk. 

Ryan ruffled his hair, trying to comb it down. “Uh, Murmursville. We’re staying in the Hotel Memories.” 

She opened it and he saw her mouth as she read to look for the name. Steven had dropped the box on the ground with an ‘oof’. He wiped his face with his hand, “I always wondered how you’ll act with a partner,” he poked Ryan’s shoulder, “hopefully you make a new friend.”

He grinned with his face flushing with anxiety and excitement overlapping in a mess, a mixture that was chasing each other in his chest. A fox chasing a rabbit with hunger.

Kelsey then asked, not looking up from the phonebook, “Who is he then?” The fox caught the rabbit: his anxiety killed his excitement with a swift movement, pinning it down and tearing it’s neck open with hungry and rabid fangs and the rabbit died painfully yet quickly. “Do we know him? Is he in this floor?” She asked, her eyes momentarily looking up, her eyes ached into him.

His tongue suddenly felt too heavy to fit in his mouth and his voice box was suffering from circuitual issues. “Uh, I-- He…” he’s sweating right now and he swallowed, his mouth felt dry. Why was he nervous? Did he just realize that he could mess up? That this man, C.C Tinsley, could spread the rumors that the Supernatural Department is a mess? That it’s not needed? The reputation of the Supernatural Department on him, and if he would have known this before, he would have chickened out because Ryan isn’t the best example of what the Department is. He would have recommended Claudia Restrepo or Helen Pan or even Steven. Anyone but himself. “He’s from the Crime Department,” he blurted out a bit too loud that the people around his desk would shoot him sideway glances. 

His blonde friend’s eyes left the yellow pages, “What?” She gasped in disbelief, and who could blame her? Both of the Organizations hate each other with everything inch of all of the walls. There was even a fight back in ‘98 that lead to three people getting hurt. Ryan doesn’t know what it was about but all he knew was that he was glad that they didn’t have guns on them. 

“He is?” Steven said in the same shock as she had expressed. “What… Why didn’t you tell us?”

His body was shivering, as if he had a bucket of water dunked on him. Ryan felt like that type of anxiety in which you get off a rollercoaster and you feel everything in your head and a hollow feeling in your chest. “I…” he tried to explain but the words he tried to exhale but he ended up gulping in air. His eyes shot to look around, his knees were ready to give out any second.

Kelsey shook her head, blonde hair flaring around her head. “Never mind that, the real question is who would make the Crime Department and Supernatural Department work together? It’s a murder-suicide!” 

Ryan shrugged. “But also, why me? I have no experience in the field. If they wanted to prove the Crime Department wrong, don’t throw a rookie into the same room with an experienced Crime Department agent.” 

Both the friends look at each other, sharing a look of questioning. “Whatever, my dude,” she slammed the book shut and threw it on the desk. “Steven and I wish you the best of luck. Call me when get to the hotel to make sure that the guy… didn’t, well, kill you.”

Steven smiled, almost grinning. “They do say that with that much experienced with crime they can make murders look like suicides or accidents.”

A shiver went down his spine as the image of two bodies covered in blood as they lay in a puddle of it too appeared in his head. His stomach did a flip. He tried to blink them away but another appeared, this time someone (a girl maybe) on the floor behind a desk with gunshot right under her heart, and lastly someone jumping off the edge of a building.

“Ryan!” 

He snapped out of it and the visions seemed to have walked away from him like a bitter ex lover. “You okay?” Kelsey asked with her hand extended outwards as if just in case he fainted. Ryan rubbed his face and muttered a small ‘yeah’ in response.

“I’m just… tired.” He wasn’t lying but that wasn’t the only thing. He tried to look for the word for all of the things he has seen in his head. Disbelief. Terror. Fear. Nostalgia?  
Steven’s face showed lack of belief in his explanation but didn’t mention it. “Alright. You better hurry up. It’s almost--” 

“Ryan Bergara!” the intern yelled.

“Nevermind,” Steven muttered as he rubbed his ear due to the feedback followed the intern’s voice after. 

Ryan laughed and then felt a hand on his arm. It was Kelsey. “Dude, don’t forget to smile.” 

And he did. It was weird for him, to actually smile when someone told him. The only time he has even listened and obeyed someone to smile was his mother. But this was Kelsey. Cool and fun Kelsey that he accident became friends because he was eavesdropping about what horror movie was better: Nightmare On Elm Street or Friday the 13. They began to argue, Ryan saying that Freddy was the ultimate horror monster. And that’s how their friendship began. “Everyone has been telling me that all day.”

“Good,” she grinned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry that I have been posting lately, I lost my journal in which I keep all of the drafts and I don't have a computer at home so that means that I edit this at a school's computer. But I did find it and my laptop got fixed during the weekend. I also posted a playlist about this story on Spotify.


	5. Nostalgic Deja Vu Part: 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Murmursville calls their came. 
> 
> ~ Pompeii by Bastille ~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. What color is Adam's hair? I legit had to look back at Worth It videos because what????  
> 2\. Yay, Jen! I love her so much.  
> 3\. I'm so sorry that I was late but I lost my journal and then somebody stole it (*cough* Fake friends)   
> 4\. Enjoy and comment below!

The Organization very vague. In fact, it’s so vague that would suspect something and it gets on your nerves because it’s so obvious and you hate it but it doesn’t matter because who the hell is going to suspect something about a large office space that has the name BUZZFEED as it’s company name. And besides, who’s gonna think that it’s a top secret organization that hunt demons and serial killers.

The car was nice looking, Ryan admitted. It was a black car with it’s windows tinted black. And standing by it was none other then the man himself, Tinsley. He was standing, waiting irritably. He only had one suitcase and a box filled with files while Ryan was carrying two suitcases and three boxes of files. 

C.C Tinsley was not subtle when it comes to the fact that he works for a top organization. He dressed up like he was straight out of a black and white mystery film from the 1920s. With round glasses that go over his eyebrows and a large navy blue trench coat. It would be weird, considering the fact they live in fucking L.A, but the sky was covered with clouds and it was very windy that the trees were bending back and forth, limp and lifeless. 

“Goldsworth,” Tinsley said, “we have to go. We don’t have all day.” Ryan gave him a sour look as he put his stuff in the trunk of the car before slamming it down, almost crushing one of Tinsley’s fingers in the process. He pulled his hand away, wincing at the fact that probably crushed the tips of his fingers. “What the fuck is wrong you?” he hissed at him, baring his teeth like an angry dog.

Ryan looked at him with innocent eyes, not meaning the look at all, “You said to hurry up. If I almost crushed your fingers that’s on you.”

C.C looked borderline pissed but seemed to let it go by flashing him a very awkward yet plastic smile. “Just get in the car, Ricky.” 

He flushed at the immediate nickname. “Shut it, long legs.”

They were stuffed into the backseat of the car as a man drove in the driver seat. He was quiet-- a type that quiet that you would confuse for his personality because it fits him far too well. The driver name was something Ryan didn’t want to ask, so he gave him the name Adam. Adam had glasses and a strange hair color that was a combination of ginger and brown. 

Ryan looked away, his face turning red when Adam caught him staring. Now he just looked at the file in his lap. The lap in which Quinta handed to them. And of course, Tinsley was already reading Ryan’s file. He guessed that Quinta didn’t put his real name, just his code and other miscellaneous stuff about him. 

Names are both important and personal. The Organization’s handbook said that you are allowed to lie about who you are (your name, your parent’s name, where you came from, ect.) And if you choose to give your real name, it’s a sign a respect and trust. Nobody can tell another person your real name unless you do it yourself or you give them permission. 

Kelsey is Daniella Olson while Steven is Jeremy E. Lewis. That’s how Ryan met them: as Daniella and Jeremy. They played these characters lives with ease and without a mess up while Ryan has to constantly remind himself that he’s playing Richard Goldsworth. 

And his friends are very different to the characters they play. Jeremy was a shy boy with a stutter and would blush if anyone at him. Steven was more confident, jumpy and ready to live life. Daniella is sophisticated and mature. She’s the type of woman that you would think that she has her life together. Kelsey was the opposite of that. She was a teenage mess with bills to pay. Sometimes Kelsey and Daniella usually happens due to human error or just Kelsey having chronic pains. Jeremy and Steven have only overlapped once in all the time Ryan has known them. It was a mess and hard to watch. Steven was stuck on a drug or a medication and seeing the shy boy with anxiety whimper as Steven wanted to wake up. It looked painful-- it is painful. Ryan knew that it was painful because he has lived through that. 

He opened the folder to see stacks if newspapers in crimes from the last couple of years, some papers with information about the cases, and even some pictures.   
C.C Tinsley did have some experience under his belt. 

Ryan saw that the most recent case he was on was six months ago. It was that Mason Family Copycat killer. Ryan knew that the department was in charge of the case, but he never thought that tinsley was involved with the case. 

He looked up at the file -- his file -- on C.C’s lap. It was open and al he saw was the his stuff from the Academy. Ryan wasn’t the top of his class in the Supernatural Section of the Academy but he was in the top twenty, which is a big achievement if you ask him. 

He then realized that Tinsley didn't have anything about himself in either college or anything in the Academy. Of course, they ask your permission if you want to add something or some files about the Academy or your years in college. Ryan had said yes so he could keep his folder filled with something in the meantime so he could later remove it when cases came flying in. Heh, you know how that went. 

Tinsley must have said no.

“Film?” speaking of the Devil, the Devil spoke. 

Ryan twisted his neck to look at C.C. He was looking back at him, his eyes seemed to be sinking into him slowly, like a pebble in thick mud.

“What?” Ryan asked. Tinsley’s eyes seemed to be hard and dark. 

The taller man said, “Film? You look Film is college?”

“Oh,” Ryan blushed enturly out if character. “Yeah.”

Tinsley continued, “Why?”

He shrugged, “Why not? I love movies and always wanted to be a director. Yet, who doesn’t want to be? Here in the middle of L.A.” Ryan looked out the window to see buildings and streets that were familiar. “Well, in L.A.” 

***

To Shane’s surprise, Ricky was a smart student and he was even called “a passionate hard worker” in both college and in the Academy. Shane had to sigh in relief because the last thing he wanted was a lazy or somebody who has no idea what they were doing as their partner.

What he found odd was the fact that he took film. Film. Such a strange and random thing to him. Shane took a History major in college just so he could pull through. It was fun and all that jazz. He did learn that Benjamin Franklin was a kinky motherfucker and other crazy shit like that. Yet this was different. Despite the fact that Ricky and he haven’t had an actual decent conversation that didn’t involve witty one-liners or cusses, he looked like somebody that did it out passion. He knows he did it out of passion.

Yet, what made this man want to be in the Organization? What drove him to do it? Was it childhood belief? Was it a hope? Was it stemming from deep belief? Was it ambition driven by want of learning and that led him to be blind? 

Shane continued to read his file and his heart dropped when he saw that Richard Goldsworth had no experience; he has never been on a case. “Why did they give me a newbie?” he asked out loud without shame. 

Ricky shot him a look of sadness, anger, horror, and disappointment. 

***  
“Just because I have no experience doesn't mean that I don’t know what I’m doing,” Ryan said with anger and rebellion boiling in his stomach. 

C.C glared him down but he didn’t care, he continued, anger that was old and Ryan thought would be too rusted and faded to be used again was rising up to the surface. All the hate that he had been storing against the Crime Department was making its was from the bottom of hs stomach and crawling all the way up to his mouth.

The words flew out of his mouth like bullets. “I was in the Academy for a reason, they just don’t let anyone in. So you saying that I’m just a newbie is comparing me to a child.”

“Well you sure act like one,” C.C shot back. “So this is what you Theorist are like? Childish people that believe is childish bullshot.”

Ryan gritted his teeth, “And is everyone in the Crime Department assholes?” He was sure that Tinsley was going to punch him across the face, and he was ready to fight back, he didn't care that he was in the car of a car, Ryan was still strong enough to actually beat Tinsley. But instead, the car suddenly stopped and it’s tires screeching.

Ryan felt his body lunge forward as it crashed into the back of the passenger seat. “What the hell?” he asked, seeing all the papers that were in the files were now all over the car. 

The driver spoke slowly, “We are leaving L.A soon.” He sounded dead and bored, almost irritated. 

“So why did you stop like that?” Tinsley asked, organizing the files and papers.

But the driver didn’t answer and continue to drive. Ryan caught his eyes in the rearview mirror and he suddenly felt like a child when his mother used to tell him “behave or we’re going home” or “just you wait until we got home.” Did I just get scolded by a driver? Ryan thought to himself as he looked out the window. He saw a sign that said: “THANK YOU FOR COMING TO LOS ANGELES. COME BACK SOON!” Ryan sighed and looked up to the sky to see the sun hiding behind a bundle of clouds, looking shy and reserve.

 

After what felt hours (it was hours), Ryan could see the outline of a town in the horizon, right next to the setting sun. He sat up straight and felt his heart starting to buzz when he saw it. The town didn’t look like town. It looked like an island of buildings and streets surrounded with miles and miles of dry desert. Ryan has never been to Las Vegas but this is what this is what he imagined what it would look like.

They drove into the town-- he was now questioning if it now counted as a small city or a large town --and they saw everything that would make an average town. There were work buildings, restaurants, and some parks. It was very lovely.

But despite its beauty, the town seemed...odd. Ryan felt far too familiar with it. Such as they drove past a restaurant and and an image of three women being in the park popped in his head. Then they drove past a park and the three women were there. It felt far too familiar. It was deja vu and nostalgic hitting him like wave. It was like those moments when you’re watching a movie and you know what’s going to happen because the plot is familiar and has been reused. 

It spooked Ryan far too much to call it a coincidence. He turned away from the window to look at Tinsley still reading his file (what is there to read? Ryan asks himself) and thought about mentioning it to him but decided against it, saving himself a headache and his breath. Maybe drowning yourself in memories that you were in denial of having is better than a fight with a man with educated eyes. 

***

Shane seemed to be fascinated by Ricky. There was something about him. It had Shane pondering. Ricky (or the man sitting next to him) wasn’t Richard Goldsworth. The man didn’t play him. It was a fake. The man uses the name but doesn’t play the character. I wonder why, he caught himself wondering. 

He was trying to look for the answer in the fine print of the files, as if the answer was just staring at him in the face with a large smile.

When the car stopped Shane finally looked up from his lap to look at the large town-- or small city. It was oh so beautiful. It caught him off guard. Yet it didn’t it.

When he heard that he was going into a different town to investigate, he didn’t imagine how it looked. Yet the town’s beauty was noticeable but not surprising. It was those melodies that you know how they go yet you appreciate the song itself. 

Shane turned to look at Ricky, who was staring out the window like a child on their first vacation. He felt himself smile but them snapped out of it. He had slipped out if character and he didn’t need a rookie to slow him down. Not today and not never.

Sara’s voice popped in his head, “Give him a chance!” And she was right, that made him think of his first ever case. It was a mess to say the least. 

The car stopped in front of the car that they needed to report to. Ricky said thank you to the silent driver and then stepped out of the car. Shane followed him after telling the driver to report to the Organization that they made the whole way safe. He was going to step out but he stopped to thank him. And the driver, smiled.

He left the car and helped his partner (ew why) with the boxes and suitcases. “C.C. Tinsley,” somebody said. Shane turned around and saw a cop. She was short with short black hair. “I’m Officer Jen Ruggirello. One of the cops that will assist you two.”

Ricky had his hands full so he couldn’t shake her hand, he just gaver a solid nod that she acknowledged with a wide smile. “Don’t worry about the potential gossiping about you guys being here. Only 3.5 people here know.”

Shane raised an eyebrow, “3.5? That’s oddly specific.”

She continued, “3 solid officers know while the secretary just knows that somebody is here. I lied to her that it was the FBI.” Ruggirello looks at Goldsworth, who still had some other boxes. “I’ll help you with that,” she took two boxes away from his grasp and smiled, professional yet very friendly. “I’ll show you in,” the officer said.

Goldsworth closed the trunk and the car automatically drove away, startling him a bit as he jumped back. Shane wanted to snicker but instead put a hand on his shoulder and smiled. He said, “Don’t freak out, rookie.”

The shorter man shot him a look of disgust but said nothing in return, just shrugged Shane’s hand off and followed her in. 

Shane usually doesn’t play around with his partners (ew again) but he would love to see Richard Goldsworth break. 

 

Officer Ruggirello smiled at the secretary. “Hi, Maya.” The woman looked up from her bulky computer, her eyes shining behind large glasses that Shane could identify as he was wearing the same pair. The woman noticed and smiled, her round cheeks hiding behind her lion mane of her black hair. 

“Hello, Jen,” she said casually, as if they hang out after work. Maybe they do, Shane thought, her eyes shot to him and Ricky. “Are these…?” she trailed off as if somebody would come from behind and slap their hand over her mouth. 

The officer nodded, barely not noticable. “Yeah, they’re from the FBI.” She shoots them a sideway glance, making the lie visible to Shane but not to the secretary.

He caught on and took out the fake badge from his coat. Ricky did the same. The secretary looks at it, with her bright pink mouth turning into a ‘o’ shape. “Alright then,” she said almost in a whisper. Shane flashed her a charming smile that seemed to bounce right off of her like glue on rubber. He just nodded and put his badge away back in his coat. 

Jen was explaining where all of the rooms and other places in the department were. While she talked, Shane looked at Richard. “According to your file, you’re known for being impatient. Yet they seemed to call it ‘passion’. Such a strange way to cover it up.” At this point, Shane was trying to get under Ricky’s skin. Pissing him off so he would throw in the towel and leave the case in his hands.

Richard sassed him back with: “At least I’m known for something. You’re a ghost in this file.”

Shane shot back, “Funny that you mentioned ghosts, Ghostbuster.”

***

The nickname was borderline offensive (okay, he was exaggerating) but it still made Ryan’s moth fall to the floor as he leered at Tinsley. Ryan was so startled by the nickname that he couldn’t say anything, he just had his mouth open like a fish out of water. 

C.C.’s pats his chin with the back of his hand, “Close your mouth, Ricky, you’ll catch flies.” Ryan’s face turned red out of both anger and embarrassment. He moved his chin away from his hand as if it was the most repulsing thing in the world. And Ryan would be lying if he didn’t think that Tinsley as that. “Huh,” the disgusting man hummed at him in a low voice. “I guess that you’re actually good at listening at your superiors.” 

That’s when ryan snapped. “You are not my superior,” he hissed at him while baring his teeth with amusement lacking in his smile. 

Tinsley didn’t look threaten. He was smiling like a kitten has been purring at him. “Yet you listened to me.”

“Fuck you,” he shot back quickly that the words were almost smushed together.

The tall man smirked, “Lick it up, baby. Lick. It. Up.” 

Almost throwing yourself at your partner (ew why) to fight them was a bad idea to begin with but in a town that you’ve never been at before it's even worse, he might give people the mad idea of who these two were. They can get themselves in jail with cops that they don’t know about the Organization so that means that they either have to stay in jail, explain what TUO is and that means that they need to explain that to the Organization. 

“Your office is here,” the officer said as she opened the door. “Sorry that we couldn’t do double desks. This was the only free office space.” 

Tinsley smiled, something that Ryan couldn’t trust. Damn, deja vu was pushing him around very harshly. “It’s alright. Some of the stuff that we need are going to be at the hotel we will be staying at.” 

Jen put the boxes on the desk. It was a nice office but was slightly dark even with the lights were on. Maybe it was that it was cloudy outside, Ryan thought. The very large window was probably going to help add light in the office with the rays of sunny California. “What hotel are you going to stay at? So we can send things over or call you over when you’re needed.” 

Ryan realized that he has been too quiet, probably because he doesn’t know what to say to sound professional. They didn’t exactly go over this in the Academy. “Hotel Memories,” he answered.

The cop’s face turned one of horror and shock. Confused by this, he and Tinsley said in almost synchronization “What?” Ryan shot him a look, catching the investigators eyes on him at the same time. 

“You… You-- why?” she asked, eyes wide and filled with terror. “I know that you guys are new here but…” 

C.C. Tinsley raised an eyebrow at her behavior, he looked as confused as Ryan was feeling. “But…?”

Officer Ruggirello sighed, her shoulders shaking. “That place is…”

“Haunted?” Ryan asked, terrified but excited to hear the possibility of that. He heard C.C scoff and he glared at him but was still waiting for her response.  
She gulped, “It’s just… I don’t want to say that it is haunted but people say that a lot of shady shit happen at that place so you can understand why I was surprised.” 

The feeling of a hand on his shoulder was such a surprised that Ryan jumped against the grasp. It was Tinsley. His hand was on his shoulder asif they were friends since diapers. He twisted his neck to look up at him. On his face, there was a smile that was both friendly yet had a mocking undertone. “I’m sure that it’s not haunted,” he spoke softly, like he was reassuring him something. “My friend here is very paranoid when it comes to the supernatural.” It was the start of a friendly banter despite them not being friends. 

“I’m not paranoiac, Tinsley.” Ryan shot back with a smile on his face. The taller smiled the same fake smile as him, it was convincing enough to fool the cop. He then squeezed his shoulder which was another surprised to Ryan. A squeak grew in his throat but bit down to keep it in. Why was he doing this? Will these friendly gestures to each other be beneficial to the case so the town can trust them? He asked himself, his smile twitched at the touch. “Ẅhat ever floats your boat, Ricky.” He was almost daring him to fight back. But this logical thinking kept him smiling. 

The cop gave them a small closed-mouth smile at the two. “I see, well I have to check on the cops that are going to escort you to the crime scene tomorrow. Make yourselves comfortable.” She left and closed the door behind her.

The moment the door closed completely shut, Ryan shrugged off Tinsley’s hand off his shoulder. He glared daggers at him. “What the hell was that about?” He asked-- no --he demanded the man to answer.

In the semi-dark room, the tension was so heavy that it felt like being inside a cloud. C.C. smiled almost wickedly. “I do know what you mean.” That stupid smile was both fascinating and bad Ryan furious.

“Why are you doing this?” he asked, shaking with anger like a wet dog as he tried to keep himself under control. “You get off by pushing me around? Or the fact that I can punch you and broke your nose?” 

The taller man’s face twisted one of teasing and it made Ryan almost scared. He wasn’t scared of Tinsley, Ryan has far much more muscle than him but this man is a man that has seen dead bodies and other horrible things that humans have done. A human being repulsed by what other humans can do or what they have done. Ryan was repulsed by Tinsley because this man could be another of those humans.

***

Shane wasn’t just enjoying pushing Ricky around, he was loving it. Shane wasn’t much of a sadist but whatever he needed to do to run Ricky out of the case is what heś going to do. He might as well wear a badge that says “Professional Asshole” alongside his TUO badge. Maybe he’ll wear it as a big patch on his jacket or on his backpack. He could see that happening.

His face had twisted his face into one of teasing but also of almost one of a psychopath. He has had many runs with them so copying their wicked smirks, charming yet uneasy manners and their large but borderline crazy eyes. 

The experienced agent towered over him, making Ricky waver bad but still stood his ground. Ricky was a scaredy cat but he was also very stubborn. He wasn’t going down without a fight. And Shane almost admired that. Hey, he said almost. 

In a quiet voice he said, “Don’t underestimate me, little man.” Ricky now took a step back but Shane kept on taking a step forward. “You don’t know what you’re doing because this is my world. Not your world. And I know how to do stuff that will cause you to have nightmares.” 

The sound of Ricky crashing back into the wooden desk echoed in the room but the tension around them muffled it. The tension was the type that can only be described with the feeling if being on the highest point of a rollercoaster and one of the many thoughts you have is “Am I going to die?” That was what Ricky was thinking right now. Is it sadistic of him to admit that he liked to see Ricky squirm under him? Shane’s eyes shot right through him. 

He stared at him right in the eyes, brown eyes almost begging to be filled with fear. Shane’s chest filled with having Ricky split open on the desk, his hands dipping into him. Shane could almost feel it on his hands. The feeling Ricky’s soul was so tempting, like Eve reaching a hand to the Forbidden Fruit as the snake whispered in her ear. Oh God, it was tempting.

The tall agent smirked and reached up to the small and scared man’s face. He took ahold of it, his hand, his hand on his chin and fingers digging in his jaw and cheeks. “So I recommend you watch your tongue around me,” he leaned in dangerously closed, Ricky could probably feel his breath on him. “I know how to get away with murder.”

At this point, Ricky’s eyes were wide and he found it so familiar. A distant memory filled the small gap between them. A memory of hands on skin and sleeping in one single, cold bed that later and slowly getting warmer. The memory felt like home, or what home was supposed to feel like. A comfortable silence, that the silence then filled with the safety of it.

“Tinsley, Goldsworth,” Jen’s voice came before her body in the office. Shane stepped away calmly, two arm length away from Ricky, who was still pressed against the desk. She popped her head in, “your taxi to the hotel is here.” She then looked at Goldsworth, “You okay?”

Ricky looked shaken, almost disheveled. Shane almost smirked at him, he was oh so weak. He decided to join the worry. “Yeah. You look like you just saw a ghost.”

With his face flushed he still glared at him. “Sh-Shut up.” Shane smirked. Yes, he was sadistic and he wanted the guy to leave the case. So why not have fun as he drives him crazy. ‘You are such a sadist’ he could imagine Ricky saying. And Shane found himself smiling in optimism.


End file.
